Announcements

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2020. While this year has brought our world some trying times, we hope that this newsletter reaches all of you in good health and spirits. As the annual SAA meeting has been cancelled, we would especially like to encourage our members to engage in discussion and continue our collaborations via the e-Communities webpage, the ICA twitter account, or the ICA facebook group.

In the winter of 2017, Department of Historic Resources (DHR) staff was alerted to the presence of early 17 th century artifacts in an area disturbed by a tree fall in Northampton County, Virginia. Since then, DHR staff have held three field schools and several additional excavation sessions on the property.
Located on the Chesapeake Bay's Eastern Shore, the Eyreville archaeological site contains the undisturbed evidence of nearly 400 years of continuous occupation. First occupied by John Howe in 1636, two subsequent owners occupied the property before the end of the 17 th century. The fourth owner, Colonel William Kendall, served as the Speaker in the House of Burgesses; documents indicate that he may have built a house shortly after his purchase of the property in 1657, then built a new house in 1682.

Evidence of two filled cellars or storage pits related to a post-in-ground structure/s likely from the early years of occupation.
Archaeological excavations have discovered the remains of several post-in-ground structures, two larger brick structures, and a well. All of these appear to have been constructed in the 17 th century. Several other structures and features including a road bed, a brick pad, and a brick-lined pit have been observed. These features and future investigations will be used to help us understand the 17 th century landscape at Eyreville, the changing cultural, social, and economic environment of the Eastern Shore, the developing relationships among the inhabitants of European, African, and Native American descent, and interactions with the centers of power located in the colonies and abroad.
airstrip revealed burned layers of coral rubble and organic remains alternating with near-sterile sand layers, a stratigraphic sequence resulting from the site's proximity and exposure to the shore.
The team also conducted interviews with Pingelapese community members and carried out participant observation to understand local knowledge and practices with respect to traditional fishing and farming. Finally, team members conducted ecological surveys in seagrass meadows and unvegetated areas of the reef top near the lagoon and airstrip to gather information about the modern nearshore environment. Facimerie Laylay Ioanis of the Pohnpei State Historic Preservation Office (HPO) and community members Fred Ohrey and Juliet Ernest assisted archaeologists in the field. Analyses of 14 C samples, plant microremains, faunal assemblages, and artifacts recovered from excavations are ongoing. The team thanks Nahnmwarki Berysin Salomon and Mayor Smithy Clark for their support of the project, and National Geographic, Uppsala University, the Royal Society of the Humanities at Uppsala, the Uppsala Rydebergs fond, the Tjelvar Project, and Stanford University for funding.
Ventral surface of Tridacna shell adze with adhering hafting medium, from Test Unit 6.
Matthew Napolitano, a graduate student under the supervision of Dr. Scott M. Fitzpatrick at the University of Oregon, collaborated with archaeological illustrator John Swogger to produce Footprints of the Ancestors, a comic book that details his fieldwork on Yap, a group of four small islands in western Micronesia. Comics are an extremely effective vehicle that can be used to convey how scientific research is conducted, the overall results of a project, and how findings are interpreted without simplifying the research questions. Although typically thought of as a tool for children, comics have proven an effective means to communicate complex ideas to multiple age groups and literacy levels without distilling them. In addition to scientific communication, comics are also a novel way to engage with traditional stories.
Issue #1 of the comic tells the story of the 2018 field season where Napolitano and his colleagues Esther Mietes, D7 Archeologie (Netherlands), Dr. Amy Gusick, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, and John Swogger looked for evidence of early human settlement in southern Yap, which is part of Napolitano's dissertation fieldwork. In November, Napolitano and Swogger visited Yap to share copies of the comic book with high school and elementary school students and the traditional leadership council. Issue #2 is currently in the works and will cover the 2019 field season.
Comics are an effective means of communicating research results in a way that is understandable to broad audiences.